Celebrating 16+ Years Providing Rugged

Industrial Arduino Compatible Microcontrollers, Shields, and Accessories

Rugged Circuits products are engineered with built-in protective circuits and performance enhancing features that put them a LEVEL ABOVE standard Arduino devices.  We invented the "RUGGEDIZED" market for those customers that need a superior Arduino solution.  Our products are specifically designed to offer greater performance, last longer, and operate in demanding environments.  Our circuitry has been modified to protect against ESD, reverse voltage, over/under voltage, over/under current scenarios which occur within the product environment and/or by user mistake. Our products also provide greater connectivity flexibility accepting up to 30 VDC, and operating flexibility with models operating down to -40C. Handcrafted and designed in Grand Rapids, Michigan since 2007!

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We have designed our hardware to safeguard against the famous

“10 Ways to Destroy an Arduino”

The video below shows the "little things" that go into the the thought process and design of our products to make "big differences" in performance and reliability.   Inspired by our now famous "10 Ways to Destroy an Arduino" these videos provide an in depth look at just how easy it is to damage a standard Arduino and how we have thoughtfully created a superior solution.  The Ruggeduino SE/ET and Rugged MEGA and other boards PROTECT you from ALL 10 methods of destruction.  The protective features of Ruggeduino and Rugged MEGA make them the ideal Arduino UNO and MEGA derivative board. Rugged products will outlast and outperform regular Arduino boards and save you time and money.  Our products are not just intended to safeguard against mistakes, they are designed to endure grueling environments. Specifically designed for industrial and military use. We don’t offer any exclusive pro variants of our products which means you can harness the same great power and features. More videos are available on the “About Us / Videos” page.

Testimonials- Don’t just take our word for it

(Worth the Read)

"I am in the heavy highway construction industry and began research for an improved method for remote communication and switching between various components of machinery.  We needed high speed sensing and communication as well as ruggedness to be able to handle extreme temperatures, vibration, and fluctuating voltages as these are all very common issues in dealing with heavy construction equipment.

We decided to integrate both CAN and rs485 communication protocols within the Rugged Circuits Arduino environment and once the basic circuitry and programming were complete, we then had to make sure the systems would be able to hold up to the elements in the field.  In order to rule out any mechanical flaws within the systems, we proceeded to expose these Rugged Circuits boards to very long hours of high (and low)  temperatures ranging from -10  to +180 deg Fahrenheit and excessive jarring and vibrations.  We placed the running boards inside of flat black painted enclosures and ran them for 12+ hours a day in direct sunlight while and mounted the enclosures on the outer casing of 800 hp diesel engines where vibration and electromagnetic fields from large hydraulic actuators were at punishing levels for any electronic component.  We even went as far as removing the flyback protection from various high current actuating solenoids and grounding these valves to drain directly through the MEGA's ground circuitry (actually attempting to cook one of the MEGA's to see where it would fail in the event of a serious grounding fault issue).  Even with voltage and EMI spikes reaching triple digits, the MEGA's held their ground and didnt fail.

Many of the components inside of these test enclosures simply couldn't withstand the torture and had to be redesigned or replaced with capable components, however we had a 100% success rate with your Rugged Circuits boards and have not had a single failed board both in the test enclosures or in the actual working systems out in the field.  We now have 7 systems to date running over 30 Rugged Circuits MEGA boards.

So, after a year + of evaluation adding your MEGA microcontroller into my design for equipment remote communication and controls,  I have decided to permanently add these to the final design and look forward to many years of business with Rugged Circuits."  

Vince P.  Streetsboro, OH.

MORE Testimonials from Industry Professionals (click here) 

*product referenced in the testimonial above, the Rugged MEGA.